Storyboard components: codes, media and notes

As you may have noticed, every type of storyboard is made up of several components. Some are more or less mandatory, like specifying the media type and the media content. Beyond those, though, you can set conventions for whatever you need.

At Poly we use a code for each client followed by a code for the content. That way, when I talk about material UTO07 or HIA02, I know exactly which content we mean. It also helps me search Google Drive, the file repository I use. I don't have to hunt for keywords from the text, although that's possible too. I type the code and voilà, the file I need is right there. Inside each storyboard you'll also want to specify the module, the lesson and the screen. That way we can have HIA01-03-02-01: content 01, module 03, lesson 02 and screen 01. To make it easier to read, you can add a letter, which gives you HIA01-M03-L02-S01. Keep in mind that there is no industry convention. You can discuss with your team how much detail you want. At Poly, for example, we rarely include the module. At most, the screen. But it's always content and lesson. Now I'll start mentioning some types of elements you may have, depending on what you need. Let's take this mid-fidelity storyboard example. Above each lesson we have the title and the instruction text of that lesson, which is what the learner will see. Any comment goes in the block on the left. Here, we use the slide notes as the space to detail the content of each interactive element. For video scripts, we use a separate file. If you have narration, you can leave an instruction here too. It's a good idea to talk to the narrator about the best way to give that instruction. In the left corner of each screen is the description of the interactive element. These notes can be for the designer working in the authoring tool as well as for the page developer. Interactive elements, in turn, are green. That way I can easily scroll through the list of slides and find them. This triangle, or play symbol, indicates that the lesson is a video and therefore has a script. Now, opening this high-fidelity storyboard, we have notes for the animator. This is a PowerPoint I used with an Argentine company, which is why it's in Spanish. On the left side were notes for the animator and on the right side notes for the subject-matter expert or content author. I could raise questions about the content with them, for example. For the animator, I explained how I imagined the animation and suggested images they could use. So, to recap: The first components of a storyboard are the codes. You'll want to code every part of your content so it's easy to reference later. Just as a PowerPoint is divided into slides, a course is divided into modules, lessons and screens. You should be able to match a slide to a part of your course. The second component, of course, is the course components themselves, such as texts, quizzes, videos and so on. If you like, they can all be gray blocks, but you can also use colors and codes to represent them. Finally, we have notes and comments: instructions for each of the parties involved about the elements. Those people might be animators, other instructional designers, developers, graphic designers or content authors, for example. So take some time to review who is interested in your storyboard. That way you'll want to have a set place or channel for talking with these people asynchronously. Sounds good? I'll leave all of this in the lesson, below the video, so you can revisit it if you need to.